More about me

I grew up in Minnesota where I spent summers swimming in lakes, digging up worms to go fishing with my dad, and visiting the local sheep farm to learn fiber arts with my mom. In college, I studied environmental studies and spent summers working at an environmental learning center along Lake Superior. After graduating, I traveled around the western US and Alaska working outdoor seasonal jobs until I landed at a backpacking job in Utah working with at-risk youth. Here, I learned survival skills and how to craft art from objects in nature. I realized I found a greater sense of connectedness with nature when I was interacting with it, not just appreciating it from afar. Sometimes this meant sawing a small limb off of a juniper tree, “womping” it in half, carving out a spoon, sanding it until it was smooth, and using it to eat my meals. Other times it meant searching underneath a juniper tree to look for fallen berries that had the seed removed by a rodent. This left a hard shell berry hollowed out in the middle that could be turned into a bead to make jewelry. I found meaning, gratitude, and joy from collaborating with resources I harvested directly from the natural world to craft items that I could use every day. It helped provide contrast to our fast paced, capitalist economy where goods are rapidly produced and readily discarded.

Herbalism gives me a similar feeling of meaning, gratitude, joy, and curiosity. I am fascinated by the ways in which we can be in relationship with plants when we understand who they are and what they have to offer. Plants are already so beautiful simply to witness, and exploring more about their energetic and medicinal properties has given me a deeper insight into how I can be an active participant while engaging with them. I hope to use herbalism to support folks in finding ease and balance in their bodies, a task that can feel increasingly challenging as the wellness industry churns out new info daily about what is universally “right” and “wrong” regarding individual health. My personal practice focuses on tending to the terrain of our bodies and seeing each person as a deeply interconnected ecosystem of thoughts, feelings, symptoms, aches, pains, and more. We can’t address any one thing in isolation and expect systemic change. Healing is slow, and that’s okay!

Training/Education

Living Ayurveda Internship with Banyan Botanicals, summer 2022

Medicine Making and Therapeutics at California School of Herbal Studies, 2023-2024

Therapeutics and Clinical Apprenticeship at Berkeley Herbal Center, 2024 - 2026